Deputies: Volusia man raped girl, 4, 'all the time'

An Ormond Beach man was arrested Friday on charges that he regularly raped a 4-year-old girl until earlier this year, when the child told family members, records show.

Joseph Nichols, 24, of 3715 Longleaf Drive, was booked into the Volusia County branch jail Friday and later released. In arrest records, Nichols told authorities he never touched the child inappropriately and didn't know why she would say he did.

The child told relatives that "JoJo" — her nickname for Nichols — sexually abused her "all the time" and that it feels "nasty" and "yuck" when he does.

When interviewed by sex-crimes investigators at The Children's Advocacy Center, the girl went into detail about what Nichols did with her and what his genitals looked like.

Because most names on the the incident reports are blacked out to protect the girl's identity, it was unclear whether her parents or grandparents, all of whom reported the abuse to police, made the initial complaint. Also unclear was Nichols' relationship to the girl.

Nichols told authorities he lives with his parents, and his mother told investigators that she and her husband asked their son if he abused the child and he said no. Nichols' mother said he has girlfriends.

When initially contacted, he said he didn't know why authorities were there and when told, he replied, "Oh, yeah, that issue there," which he described as "a bunch of hearsay going on." He told investigators, "I don't do anything with her."

Investigators in April said Nichols initially agreed to undergo a voice-stress test to determine whether he was telling the truth, but later told them he changed his mind.

"Joseph said he doesn't really believe in the test and doesn't know how accurate it is and he does not want to trust a machine to see if he is right or wrong," an investigator wrote.

A family member called Nichols and discussed the allegations while authorities recorded the call to make a computer voice stress analysis. Results of the test were not disclosed. During that call, the relative asked Nichols why he was not upset over the accusation and said that if in Nichols' shoes he would be upset.